Giant In the Earth
by Ghatanathoah
Summary: AU. What if the embryonic form of Sandalphon, the Eighth Angel, had never been found in the crater of Mount Asama? What if it had been allowed to grow to maturity uninterrupted? What sort of challenge would a fully grown Eighth Angel pose for NERV?
1. Prologue: Technical Error

Prologue: Technical Error

"Damn!" said Doctor Fujiyama as screen blanked again. That was the twenty-third test they'd run and every single one had shorted at this stage.

"Sir, we've traced the problem," said Chief Technician Satogawa. "Apparently the new motherboard we just installed is damaged. I can't be sure, but it probably occurred while it was being shipped here."

"Can you fix it?" asked Fujiyama.

"I'm afraid not sir," said Satogawa. "It needs to be completely replaced. Until it is the probe and the backup sonar system will be entirely non-functional."

"That will cripple us!" said Fujiyama. "We're on the back end of the budget as it is. It will take at least a month to requisition a new one. I wish they didn't ration the damn things."

"I know sir," said Satogawa, "the government thinks it is important to be austere since the Second Impact. I'm sure the computer company will give the U.N. Computing Board a refund eventually and then they can send us a new one."

"I know," said Fujiyama. "You're right, it will all work out eventually. But this will mean that the Mount Asama Earthquake Observatory will have to spend a month without its primary equipment. We won't be able to do any scanning or probing of the volcano's interior until this motherboard is replaced. Imagine how much we could have learned in that time."

"It is sad sir," said Satogawa, "but look on the bright side. It's not like missing some volcano data will cause the end of the world or anything like that. I'd hate to be like those guys down south in Tokyo-3. They have the weight of the world on their shoulders."

"I guess you're right," said Doctor Fujiyama. "Things could be a lot worse." He stood up, ready to try to make the best of this bad situation. Thirteen hundred meters under his feet, deep in the molten magma of Mount Asama, something was growing. And it would grow undisturbed for at least a month.


	2. The Business, As Usual

Chapter 1: The Business, As Usual

The tension was thick at dinner. Misato and Shinji sat uncomfortably, eating their instant noodles. Asuka just glared at hers. Pen-Pen slowly shifted his head back and forth in a nervous scan that ended with Asuka on the left and Misato on the right.

Misato finally spoke up. She was barely able to say "Asuka" before she found herself interrupted.

"Okinawa," said Asuka, "I could have gone to Okinawa."

"Asuka, you know we had to keep you on stand-by," said Misato.

"And you did!" snarled Asuka. "And guess what! Our class just got back yesterday! They spent the entire time there and nothing happened! No Angel attacks! Nothing!"

"We couldn't take the risk Asuka, you know that," said Misato. "We can't afford to ever be short on pilots."

"You could have let me go and let Shinji and Rei stay here since they'd already accepted it!" screamed Asuka. "You only needed two pilots since Unit 00 was under repairs until last week."

"Would you really want Rei to pilot 'your' Unit 02?" asked Misato, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

That stopped Asuka for a moment. Misato had caught her between her possessiveness of Unit 02 and her desire to be let off active duty. Asuka resolved it by screaming "You are impossible!" and storming out of the room.

Shinji gave Misato a questioning look.

"Just let her stew," Misato said. "You don't need to go after her like you did when she stormed off during the training to fight the Seventh Angel two months ago."

"I don't know how to act around her," said Shinji. "She's getting worse the longer we go without any combat."

"I don't know either," said Misato. She privately thought to herself that Asuka's anger about the trip was probably genuine, but it had exacerbated by the lack of combat. She had been warned when given Asuka's psychological profile that Asuka derived a lot of her self-worth from Eva piloting. Lately, Asuka had not been given a chance to demonstrate what she thought made her life worthwhile. But Misato wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to talk to Shinji about that. To even have a meaningful conversation about it with him would probably mean having to reveal parts of Asuka's past that she doubted Asuka would want Shinji to know about.

"Part of me wishes another Angel would come, just because it might mean Asuka's temper might improve," said Shinji. "It's the part that never remembers how scary and painful it is to fight, and how much is at stake."

"I know," said Misato, "it's amazing how we keep on thinking about mundane things when the fate of the human race is at stake. I just hope her mood doesn't interfere with the synchronization tests we're holding tomorrow."

They finished their dinner and then turned on the TV. Asuka stayed in her room and didn't speak to them for the rest of the night.


	3. Cement Surroundings

Chapter 2: Cement Surroundings

Scraaaaack-aaack.

Shinji winced as he heard the noise. Unit 01's head jerked with him.

"Shinji, what's wrong?" said Ritsuko. "Something's distracting you. We need you to concentrate and hold still while we finish the synchronization test. Sudden movements might give us bad data."

"It's that noise," said Shinji. "It's driving me crazy."

Scraaaaack-aaack.

This time Unit 00 and Unit 02 jerked their heads too.

"Did both of you hear a noise too," ask Ritsuko.

"I heard a noise Doctor Akagi," said Rei in her usual monotone.

"I did too," said Asuka. "It was awful." She stopped for a moment and looked reflective. "I'd say it was like nails on a chalkboard, but not as high-pitched. I think it was more like hearing bricks or cinder blocks rubbed together. And it echoed."

"That's the same sound I heard," said Shinji.

"That is what it sounded like to me as well," said Rei.

Scraaaaack-aaack.

"There it is again!" said all three pilots at once.

"Do you think that there might be some kind of malfunction in the EVA's auditory systems," asked Maya, looking at the diagnostic panel.

"In all three at the same time?" said Ritsuko, shaking her head. "That doesn't seem likely." She walked to the window and looked out at the towering cyborgs. Each of them was strung up with wires like a puppet for the test, but they were still imposing.

"On the other hand," said Ritsuko, "there might be some software glitch in the connections between the armor and the EVA's auditory nerves that all the units share. I think we should examine that first, especially since we updated the software at the same time we were repairing Unit 00."

"I'll get a team on it," said Maya.

Scraaaaack-aaack.

"Have you figured out what's causing that yet," said Asuka, sounding exasperated. "It's driving me nuts." Unit 02 shifted its twin foreheads until its four eyes looked like they were glaring at the observation box.

"I think we should postpone the test until we can figure out what is causing the noise," said Ritsuko. "While Maya analyzes the systems we can go down to the Pribnow Box and perform a synchronization test with the simulation bodies."

"I thought you wanted us to use the actual EVAs today to make sure there was no variance between the simulation bodies and the actual units," said Shinji.

"Yes," said Ritsuko, "but doing a test with the simulation bodies will be better than nothing. We'll come back to the EVAs when this problem is fixed."

Scraaaaack-aaack.

"There's the damn noise again," muttered Asuka.

Ritsuko began the power down sequence. The walls of the entry plugs displayed their typical coalescing colors as the EVAs desynchronized from their pilots. The plugs went dark as the final connections were cut.

Scraaaaack.

"I heard it again, but without the echo," said Asuka.

"Same here," said Shinji.

"I heard the same," said Rei.

"You hear the noise, even though you're not synchronized?" said Ritsuko, looking puzzled. She paused for a moment, then she abruptly lay down on the floor and pressed her ear against it.

"Doctor Akagi?" asked Maya, looking flabbergasted.

"Everyone quiet!" shouted Ritsuko. "No one make any noise at all until I say so."

The staff seemed stunned, but was used to obeying Ritsuko's orders. They waited for a few moments.

Scraaaaack.

"Rei, Shinji, Asuka," said Ritsuko, "Did you just hear something too?"

"Yes!" said all three of them together.

"I did hear a scraping noise," said Ritsuko, "but it wasn't loud enough to really annoy me. On the other hand, young people tend to have more sensitive hearing than adults. This is obviously some sort of ambient noise that is being conducted through the floor."

"If you had to press your ear to the ground to hear it," said Maya, "why could the pilots hear it?"

"Because they are immersed in LCL," said Ritsuko. "Sound travels better in solids and liquids than it does in air. The sound is too faint to carry through the air into our ears. But it was carried through the floor, up the solid bodies of the EVAs, through the liquid LCL, and into the pilot's ears. By pressing my ear to the ground I got a similar effect because it traveled straight to my ear.

"Of course, during combat we have sound dampeners turned on to full power in the entry plug so that the sounds of fighting don't deafen the pilots. But in this case we were only during a synchronization test, so the dampeners were set to only screen out normal noises in the NERV complex like cooling fans. A novel sound like this went right through them. Resynchronize the EVAs with the sound dampeners turned up to full and see what happens."

_Scraaaaack_.

"I hear the noise now, but without the echoes, like it was after we desynchronized," said Asuka. Shinji and Rei confirmed her observation.

"I think I see what's happening," said Ritsuko. "The EVA's auditory systems are much more sensitive than ours. They can hear the sound. But the sound was also conducted directly into the pilot's ears. So the echo came from the pilots simultaneously hearing the noise with their own ears and through the EVA's auditory sensors. If they had better synchronization they probably wouldn't have heard the echo at all."

"Hey," said Asuka, "we have great synchronization right now!"

Ritsuko continued, ignoring her, " When they desynchronized they only heard it with their own ears, so the echo was gone. Resynchronized with the sound dampeners on full, they only hear it through their Eva's ears, so there is no echo either."

_Scraaaaack_.

"But what's causing the sound in the first place?" said Maya.

"Probably some problem in the air-circulation system or something like that," said Ritsuko. We should have engineering check on it. In the meantime we can keep the sound dampeners turned up, turn down the Eva's auditory systems, and resume the test. I'm sure the problem will be gone soon."

_Scraaaaack_.


	4. Bad Soil

It wasn't the air circulation system. Or something like that. Upon further investigation the sound was detected throughout the Geofront. And it was getting louder.

"We cannot ignore the possibility that it's caused by an Angel," said Fuyutski .

"Agreed," said Gendo, "that's why I called this emergency staff meeting." The fact that it was an emergency meeting was obvious. It was 3 a.m. and everyone looked very tired and disheveled. Of course, NERV was a paramilitary organization, so their "tired and disheveled" was the common person's "alert and immaculate." But they had all worked together long enough to tell the little signs, the slightly slower speaking, the one or two out of place hairs, or the wrinkle in the uniform.

Does anyone have any possible scenarios?" asked Gendo, looking around the room.

"Could it be some sort of sonic weapon the Angel is powering up?" said Maya.

"It reminds me a little of the noise the Fifth Angel made when it was drilling through the Geofront," said Hyuga.

"I agree," said Misato, "It does sound like that. I think we may be dealing with another digging Angel."

"But how could it have started digging without being detected on our sensors?" asked Shigeru. "Hell, how could it have started digging without someone seeing it?"

"It could have started burrowing from _really_ far away," said Misato, "or it could be smaller than most of the Angels we've seen so far. We've never come across any concrete reason _why_ they have to be gigantic."

"I think Hyuga and Misato's theory deserves further investigation," said Gendo. "We should deploy seismographic teams immediately determine the direction and distance of the sound's source."

"Most of our seismographs are large and fixed," said Fuyutski, "we'll have to bring in some more portable ones."

"Captain Katsuragi, please get a team requisitioning seismographs immediately," said Gendo.

"Yes sir," said Misato, "it shouldn't be hard, we aren't that far away from Mount Fuji. I'm sure some universities will have some we can borrow as well."

"We should also place the pilots on standby as soon as this meeting is over," said Gendo. "Correct that, Captain Katsuragi, call them right now and place them on standby."

"Yes sir," said Misato. She pulled out her cell phone and began dialing Rei's number.

"Um, Commander Ikari?" said Hyuga, a worried look crossing his face.

"Yes?"

"Misato's mention of Mount Fuji just gave me a disturbing thought. What if we didn't observe the Angel digging on the surface _because it didn't start from the surface_."

Gendo, as usual, showed no emotion, but Fuyutski's eyes widened visibly.

"Are you implying," said Fuyutski, "that this Angel may be tunneling up from deep within the Earth?"

"It's possible sir, the Earth's crust is pretty thin in this area."

"If that's the case this could be very bad," said Fuyutski, "we have virtually no defenses for an attack of that sort."

"Agreed," said Gendo, "let us expedite the acquisition of the seismographs and begin planning for possible defenses immediately. Captain Katsuragi, your strategic input will be needed, so you should delegate some subordinates to acquire the seismographs and to brief the pilots upon their arrival."

"Yes sir," said Misato. She looked very worried. "I sure as hell hope we've been woken up and started doing all this work for nothing."

"We all hope that," said Fuyutski.


	5. The Burrower Beneath

"I sure as hell hope Misato didn't drag us out of bed for nothing!" said Asuka. Shinji just sighed. The fact that Asuka _actually wanted_ to get into a fight with a monstrous creature while piloting a machine that transmitted all the pain inflicted on it into her nervous system frankly baffled him. He felt proud that he was a pilot too, but piloting was a really frightening and traumatic experience.

Asuka leaned against the catwalk, looking at the immense faces of the EVAs. They had been standing around in their plugsuits for two hours since they had gotten the call. There hadn't been much of a briefing, just a statement that there was "possible Angel activity" and that therefore the pilots "should remain on active standby until further notice." Hence the boring activity of standing around in plugsuits, waiting to be ordered to either go home or get into the entry plugs. It was extraordinarily boring to her.

Rei sat, passive and unreadable. If this battle turned out to be real it would be her first deployment since the fight against the Fifth Angel. Rei did not care about herself very much, so it would be wrong to say she was frightened. She was, however, rather ill-at-ease. The last two times she had been in an EVA had turned out painfully, and however little esteem she had for her own existence, her body's automatic neural responses seemed to concur that she should be feeling _something_.

"I wish—" said Asuka but Shinji and Rei never found out what she wished, because a small tremor suddenly rumbled through the Geofront. A few seconds later the alarms went off.

"All pilots enter their plugs now," said the intercom. The EVA pilots hurried to comply, running up the walkways to their respective EVA plugs.

As the synchronization finished Misato's voice came on over the radio. "We have a major problem," she said. "Those noises you heard earlier in the day were caused by an Angel. It is under the Geofront and appears tunneling up towards us. Our seismographs are still making estimates, but it should arrive within three to six hours. We haven't determined exactly where it will emerge yet."

"Tunneling up," said Asuka, "we've never been trained for that."

"It was never anticipated," said Misato. "We'd always assumed that the Angels would attack the Geofront from the surface. All of our defenses are configured for that."

"What's our plan then?" said Shinji. Another tremor ran through the Geofront as he spoke.

"We are planning on launching the EVAs as soon as we can pinpoint where the Angel will emerge. As it gets closer we may have to deploy the EVAs to different areas where it is likely to emerge."

"At least we'll finally get some action," said Asuka.

In Central Dogma Ritsuko looked up from her console with worry. "At this point the seismographic analyses the Magi have performed indicate a 68% chance that the Angel will emerge in Terminal Dogma. We have to consider dispatching the EVAs there."

"For now we will have Rei take Unit 00 down immediately," said Gendo. "The other two Units will remain on standby until we are more sure." Inwardly Gendo was very upset. If this Angel proved too powerful for Unit 00 to handle alone it was likely that Shinji, Asuka, and most of NERV staff would get a look at Terminal Dogma, and of Lilith. He steeled himself. It couldn't be helped. An intelligence leak like that was a minor matter compared to what might happen if the Angel managed to reach Lilith. Not to mention if it tunneled upward and found Adam.

"Captain Katsuragi," said Gendo, "if the Magi calculate the odds of entry into Terminal Dogma as being greater than 80% dispatch Unit 01 as well. If they exceed 90% dispatch Unit 02." Fuyutski and Ritsuko gave him questioning looks. He ignored them. If he mentioned to them out loud right now that the risk of a successful Angel attack justified Shinji and Rei seeing Terminal Dogma then Katsuragi and the others would wonder why he wasn't worried about Rei seeing it. He did want to keep this intelligence leak to a minimum.

Misato began dispatching orders to have a full complement of weapons for Unit 00 lowered down into terminal dogma. It was at that point that the next tremor struck. It wasn't a large tremor, it only caused some minor rumbling and shaking, enough to make Maya's coffee slop over the edge of the cup. The NERV staff braced themselves and waited for it to end. It didn't. It got worse.

Ritsuko's computer sounded an alarm. "Commander Ikari," she said, "the Magi believe that the Angel has broken into an old empty magma tube left over from when the neighboring volcanoes were active. Its speed has rapidly increased. Furthermore, the tube seems to be filling with magma again."

"How could that be?" asked Maya, looking shocked.

"It could only mean that the tunnel the Angel has been digging has been filling up with magma behind it," said Ritsuko, "either because the Angel tunneled straight from the molten mantle or because it ruptured a magma pocket on its way."

"That would mean that it can survive while immersed in magma," said Fuyutski. His face remained calm but his voice sounded slightly strained in nervousness.

"The Angels have survived N2 bombs," said Misato, "and those generate more heat than magma."

"Yes, but the N2 bomb only generates that heat for a fraction of a second," said Hyuga, "this Angel is immersed in magma continuously."

"I'm just saying it's not impossible," said Misato.

The Magi chimed another alert. "We have a problem," said Ritsuko. "It appears that Angel is moving through the magma tube to save time. It will now probably arrive in under an hour. When it does, the Magi now calculate a 90% probability that it will emerge in Terminal Dogma."

"Get all the EVAs and there weapons down there immediately!" said Misato.

"Wait," said Gendo, "don't dispatch Unit 02 yet."

"Sir?" asked Misato. She wasn't following him yet.

"The Angel may bring the magma with it when it enters," said Gendo. "We should outfit at least one EVA with the D-Type equipment. Inform Asuka that she should eject and change into the D-Type plug suit."

"She isn't going to like that," said Misato.

"I think she can subordinate her personal comfort to preventing the Third Impact from occurring," said Gendo.

"Of course sir," said Misato. She began dispatching orders.

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Author's Note: I am writing this fic mostly because the question "What would Sandalphon had become if they had never found it?" has always bugged me. I'm trying to make it fairly original flavor, as if it could be an alternate version of episode 10.

I've used an omniscient narrator because this isn't really any one person's story, it's about the reaction of NERV as a whole.

I've also avoided long descriptions because I'm assuming that anyone who wants to read an Evangelion fanfic is probably an Evangelion fan and therefore already knows what the characters, the EVAs, the Angels, and NERV headquarters look like. Keeping that in mind, it seems like long descriptions would annoy the reader rather than interest them, since I'd be describing people and places they've already seen on TV a million times.

If anyone disagrees with these choices please tell me about it in a review, I'm very interested in improving my writing. I've already read some criticism that my chapters are too short, but I'm not sure what to do about that, this isn't intended to be a long story, I'm trying to plot it as if it were the same length as an episode of the series.


	6. The Terror From the Depths

"This is so uncomfortable!" said Asuka as Unit 02 was lowered into Terminal Dogma. "This suit is hot and it makes me look horrible! And this equipment makes my poor Unit-02 look idiotic. Why couldn't you have given the D-Type equipment to Shinji?!"

"You currently have the best sync ratio, Asuka," said Misato. "We wanted to make sure the D-Type equipment went to the pilot who could make the best use of it."

That seemed to mollify Asuka, she stopped talking for a while anyway. The strength of the tremors had increased, until by now everyone in Central Dogma was barely able to stand without falling over. Luckily the Magi and all their other vital systems had been constructed to withstand far greater shaking than this.

"What the hell is that thing?!" said Asuka as Unit 02 lumbered over to where Units 01 and 00 were standing. A huge white humanoid form with missing legs and a large mask attached to its face was nailed to an immense cross. Blood from the wounds dripped down to form a small lake at the foot of the cross.

"It looks like an Angel to me," said Shinji, "but really your guess is as good as mine." Rei was silent.

"Hey, that liquid coming out of it looks a lot like LCL!" said Asuka. "Is this how they manufacture it? Gross!"

"No wonder it always smells like blood!" said Shinji. He held his breath in horror, but couldn't manage it for very long. Then a disturbing thought occurred to him.

"Wait a minute!" said Shinji, "Is this why the Angels are always coming here? Because we've captured one of them and are keeping it crucified in a cave?"

"Calm down everyone!" said Gendo's voice over the intercom. "This is a highly sensitive area. All you need to know right now is that if the Angel manages to come into contact with that creature the Third Impact could occur."

It had come to this. Gendo mentally cursed himself for delaying the expedition to retrieve the Lance from what was left of Antarctica. He had been planning to stab it into Lilith anyway, to retard her growth and increase the amount of LCL she generated. If he had it now than he could have had Rei use it to destroy the Angel without anyone else having to see Terminal Dogma. SEELE would not be happy about this intelligence breach. If they were too unhappy they might monitor him even more closely, which would make planning against them even harder.

"Rei, Shinji," said Gendo, "the creature is not safe where it is, you are going to have to move it. Asuka will guard for the emergence of the Angel while you do that."

"At least I don't have to do grunt work," said Asuka.

"Sir!" said Misato, "If the EVAs come into contact with that won't it be as bad as if the Angels had!"

"You don't need to worry about that Captain Katsuragi," said Gendo. "You don't need to know why either." Inwardly Gendo cursed himself at not being able to think of a better explanation than that. There just wasn't any time!

They've been lying to me, Misato thought to herself. Why? She shelved those thoughts. She could deal with that after this Angel was dead.

Asuka moved Unit 02 into position. The long thick coolant pipes attached to her umbilical cable caught on stalagmites, which then shattered as she jerked it free. Meanwhile Shinji and Rei began the arduous task of moving the giant Angel.

"Don't try to detach it from the cross," said Gendo, "Just uproot the entire cross and take it with. The cross helps keep it dormant."

Shinji and Rei complied and slowly moved the gigantic object towards the opening. The NERV staff had already lowered cables to fasten to it. Shinji paused to notice that the cables had attachments that seemed to perfectly fit onto the ends of the cross. Then he realized that those attachments had probably been how the cross was brought down here in the first place. He wondered how it had been set up, and how the Angel had been attached to it. His father had acted like this was a big secret, but surely it would have taken dozens of men to attach the Angel and lift up the cross. A thought struck him. Maybe it didn't…….

"Ayanami," asked Shinji, "Did you use Unit 00 to crucify this Angel?"

Rei paused. "Yes," she said.

Gendo cursed inwardly as he heard Rei's reply. How could she do this to him! He had been apprehensive about how close she had been getting to Shinji after the battle with the Fifth Angel. His fears had been born out.

He had wanted to order her not to reply as soon as Shinji had asked that question, but doing that would be as good as an affirmative. He noticed that Ritsuko and Fuyutski had both started to speak and caught themselves, having realized the same thing. It was better this way. The only thing that would make the pilots and the staff more suspicious than having Rei admit what she had done was trying to actively cover up the fact.

Misato had noticed the movements of Gendo, Ritsuko, and Fuyutski. They were considering trying to cover up that too, she thought. I am going to have to talk to Kaji when this is over.

The cranes lifted the huge cross and its occupant upward. Units 00 and 01 stood, waiting for further orders.

"Father," said Shinji, "I want to know. Are the Angels really out to kill humanity? Or are they angry because you've imprisoned one of them?"

Gendo bit back the fury that was building inside him. Why couldn't Shinji just shut up and do what he was told! He found himself wishing that they had been able to complete the Dummy Plug system. There was nothing worse than having to rely on temperamental teenagers to advance his plans.

There was no time to think about that now, Gendo told himself. He had to give Shinji a convincing answer that would get him back to fighting the Angel.

"Shinji," he said, "the Angels do want to cause the Third Impact and destroy humanity. The reason we have imprisoned that Angel is that they can't do it without its help. All of NERV headquarters is centered around preventing them from getting to that Angel. Now please, return your focus to the mission."

There, thought Gendo as Shinji quieted down. The same official story that Katsuragi and the rest of the staff had been told earlier in the day, when the Angel's coming had forced him to reveal what was in Terminal Dogma to them. It gave as little real information as possible and was close enough to the truth to sound plausible. Unfortunately, it had contained a hole that Katsuragi had spotted, namely that since the EVAs were made from Angels, contact with them could create the same problems contact with an Angel could. He would have to find some way to mollify Katsuragi later. And to make sure those idiot kids didn't reveal the secret to their class or the who world by accident. But for now he had to concentrate on killing the Eighth Angel.

"Rei, Shinji, take your weapons assume position," said Misato. "Asuka, you will take point. We will update you periodically on where the Angel is likely to emerge, so be prepared to change positions."

There had been some debate among the NERV staff about what sort of weaponry the EVAs should use. Gendo and Ritsuko had favored equipping Unit 02 with a sonic glaive and Units 00 and 01 with positron rifles, the idea being that Asuka would try to pin the Angel down with the glaive while Shinji and Rei emptied the rifles into it. Misato had objected that the risk of them accidentally hitting Unit 02 was too great under that plan. She insisted that they use the pallet gun instead, which would not do significant damage to Unit 02 if they hit it by mistake. Eventually Fuyutski had come up with a compromise plan in which all the EVAs would stand back and use positron rifles. If the Angel proved hard to hit Asuka would advance with the glaive to pin it down and Shinji and Rei would switch to pallet guns. Of course, since they did not know the Angel's appearance, or any of its capabilities besides tunneling, the battle plan's effectiveness was up in the air. The Magi gave the first plan a 60% probability of success and the second one a 50% probability. However the error bars for the plans were 40 and 30 respectively. There simply wasn't enough data.

Rei, Shinji, and Asuka stood waiting, occasionally adjusting their positions on the shifting floor as per the Magi's instructions. The rumbling increased.

Alarms went off. "Breakthrough imminent!" said Misato, "Be on your guard everyone!"

Suddenly the floor two hundred meters in front of the EVAs cracked and buckled. The rumbling intensified and the cracks began to glow red.

Then a huge dark green hand burst through the cracked floor. Each finger was segmented like a lobster and studded with long serrated spines. A jet of lava engulfed the hand, spewing up into the air in a huge plume. Another hand punched through and the floor began to collapse. A huge fountain of lava formed around the hand's entry point. From the center of the fountain the EVA pilots heard a moan not unlike the cry of a whale.

An Angel had come to Terminal Dogma.

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Author's Note: I think I've been doing a good job of staying true to the characters so far, but let me know what you think.

I've realized that I've opened up a lot of cans of worms with the early revelation of all these secrets to the characters. I didn't intend for that to happen, but I realized that based on how Shinji behaved in the fight with Bardiel and the beginning of episode 19 that he would probably have enough of a conscience to ask Gendo a hard question or two.

I had a bit of trouble writing Misato's reaction because the show makes it clear she didn't know Lilith was imprisoned under NERV headquarters until episode 15 (and even then she thought it was Adam). But I don't remember the show ever saying what explanation she was given for why the Angels always made a beeline to NERV HQ (although she was told the Sixth Angel attacked the fleet because of Unit 02, rather than because of Kaji's briefcase full of Adam). I ultimately decided to have Gendo tell her part of the truth to simplify things.

I originally intended to end this fic after the battle with Sandalphon, but I've been forced to develop a lot of new plot points and it would be a shame to leave them unresolved. I might have to write a sequel. Writing an Original Flavor AU fanfic of the whole series would be hard work though, and be very time consuming. Everyone let me know what you think.


	7. The Beast in the Cave

Asuka, Rei, and Shinji all aimed their positron rifles at the protruding hand.

"Wait!" said Misato, "until it emerges completely, so you have a better shot. Then try to find its core and aim for that."

The EVA pilots tensed up and prepared to aim. The lava began to pool around the jet and oozed down the floor. It hissed as it entered the lake of LCL and turned the Angel blood to steam. Orange fog began to fill the air. The pilots had to adjust their EVA's visual filters to see through it.

Then the center of the lava began to roil. The Angel emerged again, this time leaping bodily out of the lava. The positron rifles roared and three bolts of energy raced towards the Angel. Rei's bolt missed entirely, Asuka's just clipped the creature's tail. Shinji's hit it in the dead center of its mass. The Angel let out a moan as it twisted and fell back into the lava.

"Did you see that!" said Shinji, "It looked like a big lobster!"

"It was an Anomalocaris!" said Asuka.

"What?" said Shinji.

"Some big prehistoric crustacean. I took a paleontology class in college in Germany. It looked like that, except its hands were like a person's."

"They were really spiky," said Shinji.

"It had no legs," said Rei.

Shini and Asuka glanced back at her.

"It had no legs, how will it come out of the lava," said Rei.

"Rei has a good point," said Misato, "we have an image of the Angel freeze-framed up here and it doesn't appear to have any legs."

"Then how will it get out of the lava?" asked Asuka.

"Maybe it won't," said Fuyutski, "Maybe it just jumped up now to look around. Maybe it's going to just wait until the entire complex fills with lava and swim upward."

But then they no longer needed to speculate on what the Angel planned to do. They heard the loud moaning again and then the sensors beeped indicating that they had detected an AT Field. At the same time the fountain of lava changed direction. It tightened into a jet and tilted horizontally, shooting a concentrated blast of lava at the EVAs.

Fortunately it was Unit 02 that was hit by the jet. The blast melted its positron rifle and knocked it back, but the D-Type equipment was designed to take a lot more pounding than that.

"Shinji, Rei, get behind Asuka!" said Misato. "Your armor might not be able to take it if it aims the blast at you."

"Hey, you're just going to let it keep blasting me!" said Asuka.

"Your EVA is the only one that can handle it!" said Misato.

The jet suddenly tightened again. This increased its strength until Unit 02 staggered under the high pressure blast of lava hammering against it. The lava that bounced off of its armor splashed around the cave and pooled at Unit 02's feet. Shinji reached forward with Unit 01 and steadied Asuka so she wouldn't fall over.

"Aim your positron rifles at the jet's source!" said Misato. Rei and Shinji complied and the bolts of energy lanced out once more. The jet suddenly wavered and then cut off completely. They heard the whale-like moan again.

"It didn't seem to like that," said Misato. "Try a random firing pattern into the pool, maybe you'll hit it again. Shinji and Rei began to shoot, but nothing happened. They didn't hear anything and the lava fountain had again become vertical and unfocused.

Scraaaaack-aaack.

"I heard something again!" said Shinji as the ground cracked under Unit 01.

"Ikari look out!" said Rei.

Shinji jumped as one of the huge spiny hands, easily as big as his EVA's entire torso, smashed out of the ground underneath him. The spiny fingers wrapped around Unit 01's right leg and dragged it down into the lava.

"Shinji!" screamed Misato and Asuka.

"Ikari" shouted Rei.

Asuka rushed as quickly as she could to save her teammate. Unit 02 leapt into the hole in the floor from which the Angel had emerged. Unfortunately, lava is much denser than water, so Asuka sank very slowly into the molten rock. She kicked impatiently to accelerate her descent.

"Stop Ayanami!" shouted Misato. Rei had just been about to follow Asuka. "Your armor won't be able to take it."

"Ikari's is incapable of withstanding it as well," said Ayanami.

"You won't be able to help him," said Ritsuko, "Your EVA will barely be able to move, let alone fight."

"Asuka, come in," said Misato.

"I read you," said Asuka, "this damned lava is too murky." Her voice sounded slightly panicked.

"The magma hasn't eaten through his umbilical yet," said Ritsuko. "Judging from its readings he's about a hundred meters to your left and twenty meters below you."

Asuka swam through the thick magma. It wasn't like swimming through water. The magma was more like some kind of thick gelatin. Luckily it was pahoehoe type magma rather than a'a type or she probably wouldn't be able to move through it at all.

Asuka finally spotted Shinji. Unit 01 was struggling with the Angel, punching it with one arm while using the other to fend off the Angel's talons. The Angel was attempting to slash at Unit 01 with one arm while it still held Unit 01's leg with the other. The punches didn't seem to be hurting the Angel at all.

Asuka came up from behind the Angel and speared it in the back with her sonic glaive. The glaive bounced off of Unit -01's back with a clang. The Angel turned and swiped at Unit 02 with its free claw. Asuka parried with the glaive and the two combatants pushed each other apart.

Asuka could see that Unit 01's armor was starting to melt off. She kicked towards the Angel and swung her glaive at the arm that held Unit 01. The glaive again bounced off with no effect. Asuka drew her progressive knife with her EVAs other arm and parried another swipe of the Angel's claws.

"Asuka," said Ritsuko, "the heat has crystallized its body structure, you'll never be able to damage it with your blade weapons."

"I understand," said Asuka, "sorry Shinji." She swung her glaive and lopped off Unit 01's leg at the knee. Free from the Angel's grasp, it began to float limply upwards. Its body was less dense than the magma. Shinji had lost consciousness.

Asuka tried to grab Unit 01 to return to the surface, but the Angel now turned both of its huge, spiny hands on her. She managed to block the first strike with her knife and glaive, but was unable to move to help Shinji.

As the magma finished eating through one of the armor plates on Unit 01 and touched the mighty cyborg's bare skin its eyes glowed and Unit 01 suddenly became alive again. It swam for the surface of the lava at a terrific speed.

"Did you see that?" asked Asuka.

"Yes," said Misato, "Rei, look for Unit 01 emerging and help it."

"I think it went berserk," said Ritsuko.

"We're hauling you up Asuka," said Misato. "We need to come up with a new strategy."

"Schiest," said Asuka as the Angel swung one of its arms and sliced through the armor on her leg. "Go ahead."

The cranes began to haul Unit 02 back towards the surface. The Angel followed, swinging its claws. Asuka managed to block both its hands with her sonic glaive but was forced to let go of the weapon as the Angel attempted to pull it and her back down into the magma.

As Asuka emerged to the surface she noticed that the pool of lava had grown into a lake. It now filled nearly the entire cave. Rei was hauling the limp and charred Unit 01 through the tunnels to the surface. Asuka saw its armor falling off and was disturbed to see charred skin underneath. Another damn NERV secret.

The lava pool rippled and Asuka saw the Angel peeking its eyes above the surface for a look. Unit 02 dangled from its umbilical and coolant cables far above the surface of the lake of lava.

"I think Commander Fuyutski is right," said Misato. "It's just going to wait in the lava so that we're forced to engage it on its terms. Eventually, if we do nothing to stop it, the entire NERV HQ will turn into a volcano."

"And we can't do anything to seal the magma tube if there's an Angel down there waiting to fight us," said Ritsuko.

"Asuka, stand by for orders," said Misato. "We're trying to develop a strategy."

"Could we pump coolant onto the lava?" asked Hyuga.

"That might seal a normal volcano if we're lucky," said Ritsuko, "but the Angel can just break through the solidified lava crust and let more lava out."

"That goes the same for most other way to stop the lava," said Misato. "I think we're going to have to kill the Angel before stopping the volcano."

"What if we used an N2 mine?" said Gendo. The rest of the staff looked at him in sheer, utter horror.

"It may be the only way," Gendo said. "This Angel must be stopped. An N2 mine might be able to kill it, or stun it so that we can finish killing it later."

"If we can deliver it without killing Asuka or caving the entire HQ in," said Misato.

"That," said Gendo, "is a problem I suggest we set the MAGI to work on. Right. Away."

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Author's Note: I'm sorry I've taken so long to update. I've been very busy and was also without Internet access for a while. I think the story is moving along well so far, but I'm definitely starting to think its will need at least one sequel to deal with all the premature revelations going on right now. I'm not sure if I should write a sequel and post it as a separate story, or just keep adding to this one. I'd definitely have to change the rating from T to M if I was to extend the series, I might just want to post each "episode" separately, but that might make it hard for readers to find each of them. Plus, I have another EVA fanfic idea and a Tenchi fic idea too that I'd like to work on. But it would be a shame to leave the situation I've been forced to create unresolved.

And just to make things clear, I'm not trying to ship Asuka and Shinji by having her save his life. Saving someone's life, particularly that of a comrade in arms, doesn't indicate love, it just indicates common human decency. To be honest I haven't really thought about how I'll handle relationships if I do end up extending this fic.


	8. Ex Oblivione

Asuka dangled stared at the blast door expectantly as Unit 02 dangled from its coolant cables. At this point Terminal Dogma had filled nearly entirely with lava. The blast doors to all the shafts leading to the cavern had been closed and Asuka now guarded the only large enough to admit the Angel.

Since sonic blades of all varieties had proven unsuccessful, Asuka had been equipped with a positron rifle. A NERV engineering team had welded a large convex piece of metal around the edge of the barrel in the hopes that it would form a "spatter shield" that would protect the gun if the Angel shot another jet of lava at it.

"Asuka, we want you to be ready," said Gendo. "Based on the Angel's previous behavior, it will not wait for the lava to melt through the door. It will try to cut through with its claws. When it does, you will attempt to score as many hits as you can. Hopefully one of them will be fatal."

"Affirmative," said Asuka. The disastrous battles, combined with the long hours of waiting, had sucked all the energy and sarcasm from her.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?" said Misato. The look she gave Gendo combined hatred and resignation.

"There is no reason for her to know," said Gendo. "In fact, if she believes we still have confidence in her, there is a slight chance she may even succeed."

The plan Gendo had developed was simple. While Asuka grappled with the Angel, an N2 mine would be dropped down the shaft. The upper blast doors would close behind it. It would explode right next to Asuka and the Angel. It was hoped that the concentrated explosion, contained by blast shielding, would be powerful enough to kill the Angel, or to send it into regeneration mode long enough for NERV to develop some sort of specialized weapon to use against it. The MAGI gave the plan a twenty percent higher success rate than any plan to engage it with EVAs. Still, Gendo would give Asuka a short amount of time to try to defeat the Angel before he dropped the mine. There was no point in blowing up an expensive Evangelion if he didn't have to.

Misato and the rest of the staff had been horrified at the idea of sacrificing Asuka, but Gendo had quickly reminded them that he was in charge, and that the entire world was at stake. Ritsuko had ultimately taken his side, pointing out that Asuka would die anyway if the Angel succeeded in triggering Third Impact. The NERV staff, especially Misato, looked mutinous. But they were professionals with military training and continued to follow their orders under protest.

Scraaaaack-aaack.

"Get ready Asuka," said Misato as the blast door warped under the impact of the Angel's claws. Asuka readied her positron rifle. She steadied her aim on the center of the door as the Angel's spiny hands began to rip through the door.

"Hold your fire until you can get a shot at its body," said Misato.

"That's what I'm doing," said Asuka. She attributed the resigned tone in Misato's voice to stress.

The blast doors buckled and the Angel's hands reached up and dug into the sides of the shaft. It heaved itself upward, swiveling its eyestalks to get a look around. Asuka fired.

The blast of positrons hit the Angel clean clearly in one of its eyes. The positrons reacted with the matter in the eyes and created a small explosion, scratching the eye's outer surface. The damage was only cosmetic, but it seemed to hurt the Angel. It let out a scream and vanished back into the lava.

"Get ready for when it attacks again Asuka," said Misato, almost choking as she spoke. They wouldn't drop the mine until the Angel was inside the shaft, so that the blast would be contained and hit the Angel with maximum force. As long as Asuka kept driving back the Angel she had a slight chance. Maybe she would manage to kill it before it got into the shaft. Of course, she didn't have much time. Eventually the lava would rise into the shaft.

"Where the hell is Wundergirl?" asked Asuka. "Shouldn't she be supporting me?"

"The shaft is too tight for both you and Unit 00 to maneuver," said Misato.

"Ayanami is being deployed at the top of the shaft to cover your retreat if necessary," lied Gendo. Misato resisted an urge to glare at him.

"She won't need to because I'm not going to retreat!" said Asuka, temporarily regaining some of her attitude. "I'm going to crush this damn Angel if it's the last thing I do!"

Maya winced at Asuka's unknowingly apt choice of words. Then her monitor flashed ominously.

"The Angel is expanding its AT field again!"

A huge jet of lava shot up the shaft towards Unit 02. It slammed into the EVA and smashed it against the side of the shaft. The positron rifle was ripped from Asuka's claws. It flew up in the air and smashed into the D-Type equipment's coolants lines. The ammunition ruptured, producing a small explosion that ripped a huge hole in the lines. As the jet subsided Unit 02 began to swing back and forth along the damaged line like a pendulum.

"Her line is breaking!" said Misato, "We have to get her out of there."

"No," said Gendo, "Without Unit 02 to slow it the Angel may be able to ascend the shaft to quickly for the N2 mine to arm."

Another jet of lava shot up the shaft, smashing into Unit 02. The stress was too much for the coolant lines and umbilical cable. They snapped.

"Gott!" screamed Asuka as her EVA plunged into the lava.

"Asuka!" screamed Misato.

"Damn," said Gendo. It would be much harder to successfully use the N2 mine now.

The NERV staff sat dumbfounded as the lava continued to rise. About five minutes passed. Then the seismometers began to detect disturbances.

"I'm getting seismic readings," said Shigeru, "but they're not like the ones we saw before." Central Dogma began to vibrate slightly, conducting distant rumbles beneath them.

"The lava is moving," said Maya.

The surface of the lava below the shaft began to roil and bubble. Then Unit 02's arm lunged out of the lava and clamped onto the side of the shaft.

"That shouldn't be possible!" said Ritsuko, "Even if Unit 02 survived its batteries should be dead by now.

Unit 02's eyes glowed red as it pulled itself out of the lava. The D-Type equipment was shattered and falling off of the EVA and its normal armor showed signs of melting. The EVA's mask cracked as it opened its mouth and roared.

"Berserker!" said Ritsuko.

Unit 02 pulled its other hand out of the water, revealing that it was clutching a piece of its umbilical cable. That cable was wrapped around the tail of the Angel. The Angel appeared to be thrashing around trying to curl up and reach Unit 02 with its claws. The EVA seemed to be doing a good job of preventing that though.

Unit 02 howled and heaved itself out of the lava. It quickly ascended the shaft, literally bouncing off of the walls to propel itself upwards. Despite carrying the heavy weight of the Angel it moved so quickly that it ascended the shaft before Gendo could even think of using the N2 mine.

Unit 02 emerged from the shaft with the Angel in tow. It swung the cable around like a flail, smashing the Angel against the walls. The Angel thrashed its arms around wildly, trying to break free. It finally caught the cable with one of its fingers and sliced through it.

The Angel flopped on the floor, its form not adapted for movement outside of a liquid medium. It finally managed to right itself, dragging itself along with its two arms.

Unit 02 had not been idle while the Angel was getting its bearings. It had been glancing around the area, looking for something. It finally spotted the large tanks of coolant that NERV had been using to supply the D-Type equipment. It walked over and picked one up. Then it hurled the huge tank at the Angel.

The tank burst, spilling searing cold liquid oxygen on the Angel's carapace. The Angel gave one last whale-like moan and shattered into millions of tiny glass-like shards.

Unit 02 suddenly seemed to lose its berserker rage. It gently knelt down on the floor, and then stopped moving. The glow faded from its eyes. It was, from all appearances, powered down.

"We have reestablished audio contact with Unit 02!" said Maya.

"Asuka! Can you hear me! Asuka!" said Misato.

"Entry plug cameras coming back online!"

Everyone, even Gendo, gasped. Asuka's plugsuit, completely empty, floated in the entry plug's LCL. Asuka was nowhere to be seen.

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Author's Note: Sorry again that I'm taking so long between updates. I've been pretty busy. I think that I am going to write one epilogue more section to wrap up this arc, and then start a new story arc continuing the story that will deal with NERV's reaction to the attack and the appearance of Matariel. I've opened up too many interesting new avenues to stop after the defeat of Sandalphon, as I originally thought I would.

If anyone is wondering why Unit 02 went berserk when it was dragged under the lava, but Unit 01 didn't, that is simply because Unit 01 wasn't down there as long. If Asuka hadn't pulled Unit 01 from the lava, it probably would have gone berserk as soon as the heat levels became a danger to Shinji.


	9. Beyond the Threshold

"This is a disaster!" said SEELE 05. "Sensitive NERV secrets exposed to the pilots! Terminal Dogma penetrated, Lilith nearly contacted, much of NERV headquarters destroyed, and Units 01 and 02 severely damaged! I say we have given Ikari his chance! It is time for someone else to take charge of operations."

"While I am angry with Ikari's failure, I do not think a different leader would have done much better," said SEELE 11. "The sheer audacity of this Angel's tactics caught us all off guard."

"I am concerned about what to do about the Second Child," said SEELE 04. "Our tests have confirmed that she has been dissolved into the LCL. It is possible this may lead to her fusion with the EVA's souls, as has happened in previous experiments. Considering whose soul currently occupies the EVA, this could result in serious problems with Unit 02, even after it is repaired."

"We must remove Ikari!" said SEELE 09. "Repairing NERV headquarters and the EVAs will cost billions! Furthermore, we must find a new place to place Lilith and the and LCL manufacturing facility. A smoking mass of magma and calderas is all that remains of Terminal Dogma."

"I agree with 11," said SEELE 05. "None of us could have done better than Ikari did. This situation was simply a black swan. No one could have anticipated or prepared for it."

"No," said SEELE 08, "We almost could have anticipated. My division has been studying seismograph readings from Doctor Soichiro Fujiyama's volcanology team at Mount Asama that, in retrospect, clearly show the Angel incubating. If we had attacked it then we might have been able to stop all of this. However, the scientists did not gather enough data to realize what they were seeing because of a minor equipment failure. If not for that, everything might have turned out differently."

"Gentlemen," said Keel Lorenz, SEELE 01, "calm down. We must proceed carefully. One false move in the aftermath of a crisis like this could set us irrevocably down the wrong path. We will not remove Ikari just yet, but we will study the idea carefully. As for the trouble with Unit 02, we will order NERV to devote more resources to the Second Child's extraction."

Chairman Keel leaned back in his seat. "It is too bad that this happened at this time. That operation in which we cut NERV's power to teach them a lesson was just about to commence. We spent so much time and money planning it, only for it all to go to waste."

To Be Continued…

End of Arc 1.

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This is what was originally going to be my ending. However, this story has taken on a life of its own. I realized that I have basically written a story where the characters have to deal with challenges and revelations that they normally wouldn't have to deal with until much later in the series. I intend to follow this up for at least one more story arc. It might be a while before I post more though, if I'm going to do this story justice I'm going to have to rewatch some of the series to get a good feel of what will happen next. In particular I intend to watch the later episodes to try to figure out what kind of experience Asuka will have while she's in the LCL, and how it will be different from the one Shinji had after the fight with Zeruel.

Writing-wise, I think I need to work on describing how the characters feel about stuff, I notice I keep slipping into just naturalistically describing events without describing the character's thoughts about them.

I hope people like this, and I'll try to get started on a new arc reasonably soon. Please comment if you think there's some problem I have that I haven't noticed.


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